Vertical takeoff and landing (“VTOL”) and cruise efficiency are diametrically opposed requirements for aircraft. There are system solutions today that require ground infrastructure, namely catapults and arresting equipment, to launch and recover cruise efficient aircraft, thereby imparting these aircraft with VTOL like capabilities. These current multi-part systems remove the need for the actual aircraft to perform VTOL, but the system as a whole (i.e., aircraft plus ground infrastructure) becomes a VTOL system. With these current systems it is not possible to meet both VTOL and cruise efficiency requirements without the use of ground infrastructure.
Fixed wing aircraft are faster and more fuel efficient than rotary winged aircraft, while rotary winged aircraft can hover and do not require long runways for takeoff and landing. Many potential missions make aircraft combining these features desirable, but current aircraft configurations that are capable of vertical takeoff and transitioning to horizontal flight, including tilt-rotors, tilt-wings, and tail-sitters usually result in significant compromises in the performance of the aircraft in both the VTOL and horizontal flight modes because of the competing requirements of VTOL and efficient forward flight capabilities. For example, tail-sitters have relatively poor stability at landing because the center of gravity is relatively high, and tail-sitters are limited to small aircraft because the tail structure must support the weight of the aircraft. Additionally, the fuselage of tail-sitters is vertical on the runway limiting the types of cargo that may be carried. Tilt-rotors and tilt-wings provide vertical takeoff and transition, but are complex designs that present challenges with packaging the mechanisms for tilting inside the aircraft wing.